Photo By Staff Sgt. Eric W. Jones | U.S. Army Spc. Monica Madrid, center, a health care specialist assigned to the 7243rd...... read more read more
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PINELLAS PARK, Fla. – Spc. Monica Madrid, a healthcare specialist from 7243rd Medical Support Unit, Las Vegas, Nev., is competing in the Army Reserve Medical Command’s prestigious Best Warrior Competition here and Camp Blanding, Fla., March 22-30, 2013. She is one of only 10 soldiers of the 9,500-strong AR-MEDCOM Warriors to be selected to compete for this honor.
Madrid, 28, is representing Western Medical Area Readiness Support Group from San Pablo, Calif., besting more than a thousand soldiers of that command to advance to the next level.
“I chose to compete to challenge myself,” said Madrid, who is the first from her family to join the military, and has been serving for almost three years. “This competition means representing my unit and doing my best.”
Madrid is a native of Las Vegas, Nev., where she graduated from Western High School in 2002, and later earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2006.
“For me a ‘citizen-soldier’ is the best of both worlds … I live and work in my city, and at the same time, serve my country,” said Madrid, who works as a Centurylink store manager and serves in the Army Reserve. “I get to be part of a ‘band of brothers’ and carry on in a civilian life as well.”
The Best Warrior Competition was developed by retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Jack Tilley in 2002 as a test of a soldier’s physical endurance, military knowledge, current events and mental perseverance. The competition is an opportunity for warriors to highlight their military skills in a competitive environment and measures how well they perform under stress.
The grueling five-day event competition taxes each soldier mentally and physically. It includes a timed written exam, physical fitness test, and a number of mentally and physically challenging exercises including a 10 km road march, M4 rifle qualification, urban warfare orienteering, an Army combatives tournament and a mystery event.
Madrid began the competition at unit level, rising to command level and continuing on to higher command intended to select the noncommissioned officer and junior enlisted Soldier of the Year for AR-MEDCOM. The winner advances to train and prepare through U.S. Army Reserve Command, and upon winning will go on to represent the Army Reserve Command to the Army wide Best Warrior Competition to be held later in the year.
The Army Reserve Medical Command has been represented at the top Army event in 2009 by Staff Sgt. Aaron Butler, a medical logistics noncommissioned officer from Three Forks, Mont., at the Department of the Army-level competition.
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2013 03:24 |
| Story ID: | 104094 |
| Location: | PINELLAS PARK, FL, US |
| Hometown: | LAS VEGAS, NV, US |
| Web Views: | 451 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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